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N. Fracassi & D. Somma 2010. Participatory action research concerning the landscape use by a native cervid in a wetland
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Participatory action research concerning the landscape use by a native
cervid in a wetland of the Plata Basin, Argentina
Natalia Fracassi 1* & Daniel Somma 1,2
1
Delta Research Station-National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA),
Argentina
2
National Parks Administration, Argentina
Abstract
The marsh deer is one of the few deer species restricted to wetland habitats. It is considered
“threatened” at both national and international levels. In the Delta of the Paraná River part of
the natural vegetation has been converted to industrial forest after to drain the land. Thus, the
persistence of the species at the landscape level may depend on its adaptation and the attitude of
the local people towards the deer. From 26 stakeholders’ interviews, we evaluate how the cervid
uses the landscape and what threats this species is facing. The deers were registered mostly in
adult and young poplar afforestations followed by adult willow afforestations, but interviewees
agreed that afforestations that maintain understory foliage function as refuges for deers. In turn,
interviewees agreed that the deer population declined in the last 10 years and current level of
hunting is the biggest problem for the regional marsh deer population.
Keywords: marsh deer, wetland, afforestations, stakeholders, landscape, threats
1. Introduction
The marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, Illiger, 1811) is the largest and probably the most
endangered cervid in South America (Thornback and Jenkins 1982; Fonseca et al. 1994). The
species is distributed from mid-western and southern Brazil, Paraguay, eastern Bolivia and a
small portion of south-eastern Peru to northern Argentina (Pinder and Grosse 1991; Tomás et al.
1997; Wemmer 1998; D´Alessio et al. 2001). It is considered “threatened” at both national
(Díaz and Ojeda 2000) and international (IUCN, 2002) levels, and it is one of the few deer
species known to be restricted to wetlands such as seasonal streams, swamps, and flooded
savannas (Schaller and Hamer 1978). In Argentina, the Delta of the Paraná River (provinces of
Buenos Aires and Entre Rios) constitutes the austral distribution boundary of the species and it
holds one of the three main populations of this cervid in the country (Chébez 1994, D’Alessio et
al. 2001).
The Lower Delta of the Paraná River is a wide costal freshwater wetland characterized by a
vegetation mosaic crossed by an intricate network of rivers. Native forests develop on levees
and relatively elevated sites, whereas lowlands are colonised by marshes or rush communities
(Kandus et al. 2003). A part of the terminal portion of this wetland has been altered in the last
80 years mainly due to the replacement of natural vegetation by forestry plantations after the
drainage of the land. Three different population nuclei of marsh deer have been proposed to
occur in this wetland, one in an undisturbed area covered with native vegetation and the two
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 0054-3489-460075 - Fax: 0054-3489-460076
Email address: nfracassi@correo.inta.gov.ar/ natfracassi@yahoo.com.ar
Forest Landscapes and Global Change-New Frontiers in Management, Conservation and Restoration. Proceedings of the IUFRO Landscape Ecology
Working Group International Conference, September 21-27, 2010, Bragança, Portugal. J.C. Azevedo, M. Feliciano, J. Castro & M.A. Pinto (eds.)
2010, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal.